String Quartet (2vl,va,vc) SKU: BR.EB-9243 Full Score. Composed by...(+)
String Quartet
(2vl,va,vc)
SKU:
BR.EB-9243
Full
Score. Composed by
Christian Mason. Chamber
music; stapled. Edition
Breitkopf. World premiere
of the original version:
London, May 10, 2016World
premiere of the string
orchestra version:
Clermont-Ferrand, October
8, 2020. New music
(post-2000). Full score.
Composed 2016/2020. 40
pages. Duration 19'.
Breitkopf and Haertel #EB
9243. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
(BR.EB-9243).
ISBN
9790004185438. 9 x 12
inches.
It was the
practice of Khoomii
(throat singing) -
following several
workshops with Michael
Ormiston - that first
attracted me to Tuvan
music. Composing this
Songbook, the first in a
series commissioned by
the Ligeti Quartet, I
took the chance to
reflect on compositional
questions around
transcription and
arrangement of existing
music, and frequently
found myself asking:
where is the boundary
between the source
material and the new
substance? Of course the
relationship varies from
piece to piece, and
moment to moment:
sometimes we seem to
glimpse the pure source,
but most of the time
there are differing
degrees of distance,
working towards or away
from it. This new version
for string orchestra
corresponds closely to
the original quartet
version, with an
additional part for
double basses.The
traditional Tuvan songs
that I have transcribed
and recomposed are all
known to me from the Ay
Kherel CD The Music of
Tuva: Throat Singing and
Instruments from Central
Asia (2004, Arc Music).
According to the notes
from that CD, this is
what the songs are
about:1. Dyngylday: If
you have come on a horse
in blue, it doesn't mean
that you are the best. My
heart tells me something
else: my sweetheart
doesn't have such a
beautiful horse, but he
is my darling.An
alternative
interpretation from Alash
Ensemble
(alashensemble.com): The
word dyngylday is a
nonsense term with no
translation. The song
makes good-humored fun of
somebody for being a
good-for-nothing.2. Eki
Attar (The Best Steeds):
The horse is the basis of
our life. It is a magic
creature. Even its step
is full of music and
rhythm. You may not be a
horse rider, but when you
hear this song you will
always remember horses.3.
Kuda Yry: This wedding
song glorifies the
strength of the groom and
the beauty of his
Horse.4. Ezir-Kara
('Black Eagle'): This was
the name of a horse, who
became a legend through
his remarkable strength
and speed.It is not just
overtones that abound
here: there are galloping
rhythms aplenty, and
though I am no horse
rider I tried to keep the
horses galloping in my
imagination while
composing these
pieces.Christian Mason
(with quotes from Ay
Kherel and Alash
Ensemble)
World
premiere of the original
version: London/UK, May
10, 2016, World premiere
of the string orchestra
version:
Clermont-Ferrand/France,
October 8, 2020.
String Quartet (2vl,va,vc) SKU: BR.EB-9244 Set of Parts. Composed ...(+)
String Quartet
(2vl,va,vc)
SKU:
BR.EB-9244
Set of
Parts. Composed by
Christian Mason. Chamber
music; stapled. Edition
Breitkopf. World premiere
of the original version:
London, May 10, 2016World
premiere of the string
orchestra version:
Clermont-Ferrand, October
8, 2020. New music
(post-2000). Set of
parts. Composed
2016/2020. 92 pages.
Duration 19'. Breitkopf
and Haertel #EB 9244.
Published by Breitkopf
and Haertel (BR.EB-9244).
ISBN 9790004185445. 9
x 12 inches.
It was
the practice of Khoomii
(throat singing) -
following several
workshops with Michael
Ormiston - that first
attracted me to Tuvan
music. Composing this
Songbook, the first in a
series commissioned by
the Ligeti Quartet, I
took the chance to
reflect on compositional
questions around
transcription and
arrangement of existing
music, and frequently
found myself asking:
where is the boundary
between the source
material and the new
substance? Of course the
relationship varies from
piece to piece, and
moment to moment:
sometimes we seem to
glimpse the pure source,
but most of the time
there are differing
degrees of distance,
working towards or away
from it. This new version
for string orchestra
corresponds closely to
the original quartet
version, with an
additional part for
double basses.The
traditional Tuvan songs
that I have transcribed
and recomposed are all
known to me from the Ay
Kherel CD The Music of
Tuva: Throat Singing and
Instruments from Central
Asia (2004, Arc Music).
According to the notes
from that CD, this is
what the songs are
about:1. Dyngylday: If
you have come on a horse
in blue, it doesn't mean
that you are the best. My
heart tells me something
else: my sweetheart
doesn't have such a
beautiful horse, but he
is my darling.An
alternative
interpretation from Alash
Ensemble
(alashensemble.com): The
word dyngylday is a
nonsense term with no
translation. The song
makes good-humored fun of
somebody for being a
good-for-nothing.2. Eki
Attar (The Best Steeds):
The horse is the basis of
our life. It is a magic
creature. Even its step
is full of music and
rhythm. You may not be a
horse rider, but when you
hear this song you will
always remember horses.3.
Kuda Yry: This wedding
song glorifies the
strength of the groom and
the beauty of his
Horse.4. Ezir-Kara
('Black Eagle'): This was
the name of a horse, who
became a legend through
his remarkable strength
and speed.It is not just
overtones that abound
here: there are galloping
rhythms aplenty, and
though I am no horse
rider I tried to keep the
horses galloping in my
imagination while
composing these
pieces.Christian Mason
(with quotes from Ay
Kherel and Alash
Ensemble)
World
premiere of the original
version: London/UK, May
10, 2016, World premiere
of the string orchestra
version:
Clermont-Ferrand/France,
October 8, 2020.
String
Quartet - Score.
Composed by Julia
Hodkinson. Music Sales
America. Classical,
Contemporary. Score.
Composed 2014. 20 pages.
Edition Wilhelm Hansen
#WH32129. Published by
Edition Wilhelm Hansen
(HL.14043251).
ISBN
9788759831380.
English.
Juliana
Hodkinson 's Is There
Something You Can Tell Us
for String Quartet. This
ten minute piece was
written for the Anima
Quartet and was
comissioned by SWR
(South-West German Radio)
for first performance at
Theaterhaus Stuttgart on
7th June 2014 during the
festival 'Lost & Found -
Stimme. Text. Szene.'.The
quartet's title and the
titles of the individual
movements are taken from
Cynthia Troup's libretto
'Turbulence'. I Degrees
of freedom II Hidden by
an almost perfect balance
III We are taught that it
is out of reach IV For
the real earth we do not
know yet.
Arranged by Tyler Arcari. Solo and Ensemble. Excelcia Ensemble Series. Traditi...(+)
Arranged by Tyler Arcari.
Solo and Ensemble.
Excelcia
Ensemble Series.
Traditional
Sea Shanty. Excelcia
Music
Publishing #SGS42101.
Published by Excelcia
Music
Publishing
Composed by Christian Mason. World premiere: Paris, Cite de la musique, Januar...(+)
Composed by Christian
Mason.
World premiere: Paris,
Cite
de la musique, January
14,
2020. Breitkopf and
Haertel
#EB 9377. Published by
Breitkopf and Haertel
Score
and Parts. Composed
by Lucio Franco Amanti.
String Ensemble.
Classical. Softcover. 56
pages. Duration 840
seconds. Schott Music
#ED22674. Published by
Schott Music
(HL.49046188).
ISBN
9781540051684. UPC:
888680938703. 9.0x12.0
inches.
When
Cuarteto Casals
approached me with the
idea of illuminating
Beethovens quartets anew,
you can imagine the many
thoughts and feelings
that where going through
my mind: what a joy, what
a great honor What an
intriguing
head-scratcher! How can
you possibly shine a new
light on something that
is already perfect?
Weeks, months went by in
search of a common ground
between the Master and
myself until I finally
found it in the
realization that a word
lays hidden in the St.
Johns hymn that gave
musical notes their
original name: Re, Sol,
Ut, Io (D, G, C, B in
English music notation)
Perfect!
“Resolutioâ€
in Latin means both the
resolution of aproblem
and the re-solution: a
re-blend of many elements
that will eventually
coagulate to make
something new. There was
finally themelodic and a
rhythmical canvas for my
piece. On this canvas I
wrote the story of a
funny little contest,
played on a sunny
Mediterranean square,
between street musicians
and Cuarteto Casals just
minutes before they are
about to go on stage to
perform Beethovens Harp
Quartet. After all the
characters, each in his
own way, had the chance
to tell their story, a
gentle rain starts to
fall, dissolving
(Re-solving) again the
music sheet to eventually
leave us with just a
white piece of paper for
somebody else to continue
the Work. (Lucio Franco
Amanti).
String Quartet (Study Score) SKU: HL.51487121 Early Viennese Quartets ...(+)
String Quartet (Study
Score)
SKU:
HL.51487121
Early
Viennese Quartets Study
Score. Composed by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Edited by Wolf-Dieter
Seiffert. Henle Music
Folios. Classical.
Softcover. G. Henle
#HN7121. Published by G.
Henle (HL.51487121).
UPC: 840126946178.
6.75x9.5x0.299
inches.
After
Volumes IV and III of the
series with Mozart's
complete string quartets
appeared as Henle Urtext
editions in early 2017
and 2019 respectively,
Mozart expert Wolf-Dieter
Seiffert now presents
Volume II. Included are
the “Early Viennese
Quartets†from
1773, K. 168-173. Entries
in the autograph
manuscript by the
composer's father
Leopold, however, suggest
that the ordering of the
six works into a unified
series of quartets was
his doing. In his
preface, Wolf-Dieter
Seiffert shares brand-new
findings on the actual
chronology of the genesis
of these quartets.
Moreover, he succeeds in
correcting what in prior
editions were occasional
inaccuracies in dynamics
and articulation, thereby
producing a new, assured
musical text. With
artistic input from the
Armida Quartet, Volume II
of the String Quartets
also sets the benchmark
in the Mozart Edition!
Contents: String Quartet
in F Major, K. 168 String
Quartet in A Major, K.
169 String Quartet in C
Major, K. 170 String
Quartet in E-flat Major,
K. 171 String Quartet in
B-flat Major, K. 172
String Quartet in D
minor, K. 173.
About Henle
Urtext
What I can expect from
Henle Urtext
editions:
error-free, reliable
musical texts based on
meticulous musicological
research - fingerings and
bowings by famous artists
and pedagogues
preface in 3
languages with
information on the
genesis and history of
the work
Critical Commentary
in 1 – 3 languages
with a description and
evaluation of the sources
and explaining all source
discrepancies and
editorial
decisions
most beautiful music
engraving
page-turns, fold-out
pages, and cues where you
need them
excellent print
quality and
binding
largest Urtext
catalogue
world-wide
longest Urtext
experience (founded 1948
exclusively for Urtext
editions)
Harbor Music Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Conducteur] Theodore Presser Co.
String Quartet SKU: PR.16400222S Composed by Dan Welcher. Full score (stu...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
PR.16400222S
Composed
by Dan Welcher. Full
score (study). With
Standard notation.
Duration 11 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00222S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.16400222S).
UPC:
680160037841.
This
work follows my Quartet
No. 1 by five years. In
terms of style and
aesthetic aim, however,
it seems light years
away. Where the first
work, a 28-minute,
four-movement piece, took
aim at cosmic conflicts
and heroic resolutions,
the present work is
intended as a kind of
divertissment. Harbor
Music lasts a mere eleven
minutes, is cast in a
single movement with six
sections, and should
leave both performers and
listeners with a feeling
of good humor and
affection. The
title comes from my
experience as a guest in
the magnificent city of
Sydney, Australia. One of
its most attractive
features is its unique
system of ferry boats:
the city is laid out
around a large,
multi-channeled harbor,
with destinations more
easily approached by
water than by land.
Consequently, inhabitants
of Sydney get around on
small, people-friendly
boats that come and go
from the central docks at
Circular Quay. During a
week's visit in 1991, I
must have boarded these
boats at least a dozen
times, always bound for a
new location - the resort
town of Manley, or the
Zoo at Taronga Park, or
the shopping district at
Darling Harbour.
In casting about for a
form for my second string
quartet, a kind of loose
rondo came to mind. Each
new destination would be
approached from the same
starting-out point
(although there are
subtle variations in the
repeating theme; it's
always in a new key, and
the texture is never the
same). The result, I
hope, is a sense of
constant new information
presented with
introductory frames of a
more familiar nature.
The embarkation
theme, which begins the
piece, is a sort of
bi-tonal fanfare in which
the violins are in G
major and the viola and
cello are in B-flat
major. It is bold, eager,
and forward-looking. The
first voyage maintains
this bi-tonality,
beginning as a 9/8 due
for second violin and
viola in a kind of
rocking motion -much as a
boat produces when
reaching the deeper water
in the harbor. A sweet,
nostalgic theme emerges
over this rocking
accompaniment. This music
is developed somewhat,
then transforms quickly
into a much faster and
lighter episode, filled
with rising and falling
scales (again, in
differing keys). A
scherzando interlude in
short notes and changing
meters provides contrast,
and the episode ends with
a reprise of the scales.
The second
embarkation follows, this
time in A major/C major.
It leads quickly into a
very warm and slow theme,
in wide-leaping intervals
for the viola. This
section is interrupted
twice by solo cadenzas
for the cello, suggesting
distant boat-horns in
major thirds. The end of
the episode becomes a
transition, with
boat-horns leading into
the final appearance of
the embarkation music,
this time in trills and
tremolos instead of
sharply accented chords.
The nostalgic theme of
the first episode makes a
final appearance, serving
now as a coda. The
rocking motion continues,
in a lullaby fashion,
leaving us drowsy and
satisfied on our homeward
journey. Harbor
Music was written for the
Cavani Quartet, and is
dedicated to Richard J.
Bogomolny. Commissioned
by his employees at First
National Supermarkets as
a gift, it represents a
thank you from many of
the people (including
this composer) who have
benefitted from his
vision and generosity. An
ardent advocate of
chamber music (and a
cellist himself), Mr.
Bogomolny has for many
years been Chairman of
the Board of Chamber
Music America. -- Dan
Welcher.
Tenor & String Quartet SKU: PE.EP72822 Composed by Jonathan Dove. Voice(s...(+)
Tenor & String Quartet
SKU: PE.EP72822
Composed by Jonathan
Dove. Voice(s) & Various
Instruments. Edition
Peters. Living Composer.
Score and Part(s). 164
pages. Duration 00:30:00.
Edition Peters
#98-EP72822. Published by
Edition Peters
(PE.EP72822).
ISBN
9790577011769. 232 x
303mm inches.
English.
I have
only visited Damascus
once, twenty years ago,
on the way to
Palmyra. I had a
purpose (I was writing
music for a play about
Palmyra’s Queen
Zenobia) but essentially
I was a tourist.
Like any visitor, I was
thrilled to step out of
the noisy modern city
into the magical ancient
world of the walled Old
City, its vibrant souk
leading to the
magnificent mosque, and a
labyrinth of winding,
narrow streets filled
with the smell of
unleavened
bread.
In Palmyra,
I was met with
extraordinary kindness
everywhere. On one
occasion, a little
Bedouin boy noticed that
I was risking sunstroke
wandering bare-headed
among the spectacular
ruins: he showed me how
to tie a turban, then
took me to have tea with
his family in their
tent.
Since then, I
have watched helplessly
as these places of wonder
have been devastated and
their inhabitants
scattered and
killed. When the
Sacconi Quartet suggested
that I might choose a
Syrian poet for our
collaboration, I welcomed
the idea.
I
searched for a long time
to find a contemporary
poet whose work might
gain from any music I
could imagine. I
felt it was important to
find first-hand accounts
of the Syrian experience
– but, of course, I
was always reading them
in translation. In
an anthology
called Syria
Speaks, I was
astonished to read
something that looked
like prose, but was full
of poetry. It was
Anne-Marie
McManus’s fine
translation of Ali
Safar’s A
Black Cloud in a Leaden
White Sky
– an
eloquent, thoughtful,
contained yet vivid
account of life in a
war-torn country, all the
more moving for its
restraint.
In
setting these words, I
have not attempted to
imitate Syrian
music. However,
there is what might be
called a linguistic
accommodation in my
choice of scale, or
mode. Several
movements are in a mode
that I first discovered
while writing a cantata
commemorating the First
World War: it has a
tuning that I associate
with war, its violence
and desolation.
This eight-note
mode is similar to scales
found in Syrian
music. I did not
choose it in the
abstract: it emerged from
the harmonies I was
exploring in the earlier
work, and emerged again
as I was looking for the
right musical colours to
set Ali Safar’s
words. In this
work, its Arabic aspect
is more prominent. -
Jonathan
Dove
This
product is Printed on
Demand and may take
several weeks to fulfill.
Please order from your
favorite retailer.
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52 pages. Duration 24
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00272S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.16400272S).
UPC:
680160588442. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.164002720 Cassatt. Composed b...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.164002720
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral
and Saddle. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52+16+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 24 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00272. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002720).
UPC:
680160573042. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.